From Silver Finery to Sporting Trophies
Arts and crafts have always flourished in Old Delhi, once known as Shahjahanabad. Even today, there is a 350-year-old silver market called Dariba Kalan in the Chandni Chowk area, which has existed since the time of the Mughals. Many artisans who practise the craft of silver embossing, known as chitai, still live near the Jama Masjid area of Old Delhi like their ancestors who lived and worked there.
The Making
The craft of chitai involves shaping sheets of silver, and then embossing them to create decorative items. The art once received royal patronage, but post-Independence, that patronage dwindled and disappeared. Mechanisation and mass production delivered another blow. When that happened, many of the artisans also moved out from the area in search of more lucrative jobs.
The Legacy
However, seasoned silversmiths of Old Delhi still practise chitai work. Along with them are practitioners of other age-old crafts such as zardozi workers, makers of silverware and the tarazu (traditional brass weighing scales) who continue to live here.
Memory Vault
Along with jewellery and other exquisite silverware that continue to be crafted in the narrow lanes of Old Delhi, the artisans are also hand-crafting trophies for sporting events. They have made the trophies for the Reliance Cricket World Cup (1987), the Jawaharlal Nehru Cricket Cup (1989), the Sheikh Mohammad Football Cup in the UAE, and the Vince Lombardi Baseball Trophy in the US.
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